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Minecraft is a game that draws both the creative and the meticulous, which quickly led to numerous player-made modifications to this impressive little game. These are called mods, and they can completely change how you play Minecraft.

A quick note on what mods actually do: Mods fundamentally change how Minecraft operates by manipulating the game's files. This can be as simple as creating a new block, to entirely new game mechanics. No matter the mod, you're going to have to dive into the game's folder structurewhich can be scary. If you're more interested in how to change just the appearance of Minecraft, take a look at resource packs instead.

Note that these instructions are for how to mod Minecraft on Windows. Mods will work just fine on OS X and other platforms, but will have different locations for where the folders are stored. Broadly, however, the instructions remain the same.

A Word of Warning
Because you'll be mucking around in the guts of the game, it's important to backup the things you don't want to loselike save files. These are stored in the \AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves folder, but more on this later. You should also familiarize yourself with Mojang's website, so you can download a clean copy of Minecraft in case everything goes to hell.

It's important to remember that mods are made by hobbyists, and as such there are frequent compatibility issues. Many mods will not function on versions of Minecraft newer than 1.5.2, and others will requires specific versions of applications like ModLoader and Forge (more on these later). To make things even more confusing, mods often have incomplete or non-existent documentation. Be sure to read instructions carefully and make sure you have everything you need before trying to install a new mod.

Finally, in the course of modding Minecraft you'll be downloading Java files and other odds and ends from the Internet. Make sure you trust the source of these downloads, lest you accidentally install some nasty malware on your computer. The Minecraft forums have an extensive mod section, with comments from other users who weed out the problematic mods. The Minecraft Wiki also has a fairly extensive list of Minecraft mods, and their installation information.

What You'll Need
Each mod is different and I'll be covering just the broad basics in this article. I owe a huge debt to articles on the Minecraft Wiki and videos like this which are great assets to anyone dipping their toes into the mod scene.

The first thing you'll need to know is where the Minecraft files live. All the files you need are located in C:\Users\[username, if applicable]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft. You can also type %appdata% into the search box in the Start menu. You'll spend most of your time in the Versions folder, so I recommend having a shortcut to that or to the .minecraft folder within easy reach.

You'll also need an archiving application like WinRAR or 7-Zip. You'll use this to access the mod files and modify the Minecraft game files. Don't worry, it's as easy as drag-and-drop.

Lastly, you'll need to be familiar with Forge and ModLoader. These are mods in their own right, but they don't affect your game by themselves. Instead, they do some of the heavy lifting for other mods, and make the process of installing and uninstalling mods much, much easier. The latest version of Forge comes with an automatic installer, but older versions will require you to copy and paste into Minecraft game files. ModLoader isn't as popular as Forge, and will always require you to directly manipulate game files.

Learn to Love the Launcher
Minecraft 1.6 introduced a new launcher which at first will seem confusing, but you'll quickly realize that it's a modder's best friend.

With the launcher you can create different profiles with different settings for which version of Minecraft you want to use. Even if you don't actively mod your game, this is really valuable for connecting to multiplayer servers that aren't running the latest version of Minecraft. The Launcher currently supports versions 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.6.1, and 1.6.2. Here's what the inside of my Versions folder looks like.

To create a new profile, just click the New Profile button on the bottom right-hand side of the Launcher. You can also edit an existing profile by hitting the Edit Profile button. Whichever you press, the dialog window will be the same. The most important part is the Use Version pulldown menu, which lets you select the version of the game you'd like to play. Once you start modding the game, your modified game files will appear here.

I highly recommend creating at least two profilesone for mods and one that is just a vanilla installation of Minecraft. Also, using your vanilla profile, launch the game using each of the available versions. This will force the Launcher to download each version of the game and place them in your Versions folder. You'll need these later.

About the Author

Max Eddy is a Software Analyst, taking a critical eye to the Android OS and security services. He's also PCMag's foremost authority on weather stations and digital scrapbooking software. He spends much of his time polishing his tinfoil hat and plumbing the depths of the Dark Web.
Prior to PCMag, Max wrote for the International Digital Times, The... See Full Bio

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